Eye contact. That's what Blake said. Keep eye contact, don't back down, and don't—

Oh hey, that's Blake standing right behind Weiss, looking indifferent to the entire world… and also subtly drawing a finger across her throat.

{Say what now?}

"Look at me!" commands Weiss, snapping her fingers in his eyes. He focuses in on her ice blue eyes again—very pretty, with round pupils like a human's—but using his peripheral vision, he catches Blake shaking her head subtly.

"Um, I'm sorry," apologizes Jaune weakly. "I was on the ground, you see…"

"Trying to sneak a peek!" the ice princess rages.

Blake frantically slashes her finger across her throat multiple times, then mimes being very, very dead, but his lips is already moving: "You knocked me to the ground at your feet first!"

Jaune swears that an entire section of the courtyard around them ices over instantly—plant life spontaneously splinters into frozen shards, moisture drops straight out the of the air in the form of light snow, and the blood literally freezes in his veins. He can't move a muscle when Weiss whispers dangerously, "You dare accuse me of personal harm when you were the one to harm me first through thievery?"

Oh. That.

He looks at Blake for help.

Blake appears to be watching a bird in the other direction.

He meets Weiss' eyes again, refusing to back down. {Just like Blake said an hour ago, even though a minute ago she seemed to be hinting certain death if I obeyed what she'd said to do an hour ago. Ugh. Women.} "I didn't steal anything from you."

"You humiliate me to lower my guard and then you take my—you take something valuable from me," Weiss accuses. "And you single-handedly defeated both my guards! Without even fighting them moreover."

Huh. Flattering. "I—"

"Surely you quite the opponent." Her eyes narrow critically. "Tell me, from which Clan do you herald from? Horse, those jealous competitors? Or perhaps Monkey? Conniving tricksters, they are."

"Uh, yeah, sure!" Monkeys were pretty close to humans, right? Close enough. Until he sees Blake facepalming in the background and remembers that he has papers and they probably say something else. {Oh well. Lying to the Heiress of the faunus corporation that apparently ended the War can't be too harmful, can it?}

...Yeah.

{Well hopefully she won't find out until much later. Much, much later.}

"He's not Monkey, I'm pretty sure of that," calls a voice from above. All gazes are drawn up into the sky, just in time to be blinded by a gigantic golden explosion of sunlight and warmth. In the seconds that it takes to clear the green and purple sunspots from his vision, Jaune hears two thuds nearby as two individuals make solid landings.

"Oh lookie, fresh meat!" cries an exuberant female's voice. "Mm hm, you're pretty hot." A tiny squeak from Blake. "Hey Adam. Hi Ren. Ooo, and what are you?"

Jaune blinks as shadow falls over him—and then the speaker is hugging him, and he personally experiences why Blake could only say "Hieugh" when a very generous chest squeezes all the air out of his lungs.

She ruffles his hair. "Well, you're a thing. Definitely not a shexy smexy Monkey though."

With his vision finally cleared, Jaune observes the blonde before him. In addition to having boobs of steel, she's decked out in mostly yellow, gold, and tan. Her long mane of hair is perfectly sculpted to look messily carefree, but what stands out most is her vivid red eyes—except she blinks and the color of her eyes are a warm blue.

{Did I imagine that?}

He glances over to Lie Ren, who doesn't appear to be dazed at all by the earlier flash explosion. The guy still has pink irises, yeah. So a girl with red eyes isn't that unusual.

{But a girl whose eyes change color in a literal blink of a second?}

"Ahem?" Weiss says expectantly in the background.

"Whaddya know?" the blonde continues blissfully. "All the Directors in one place."

Jaune glances around at everybody present. To his left, Weiss fumes with her bodyguards, Ren amd Taurus (Adam?) flanking her. Blake stands a little off to the side, her eyes resting on the two opposing blondes. Jaune recognizes the tanned boy with the unbuttoned shirt who'd hopped onto the dragon right after Ruby... which means... {no. Really? She's the dragon. Erm, dragoness. The blonde girl. She can turn into a Dragoness at will, and judging from the midair explosion, straight back into a faunus whenever she wants.}

Holy Light. He's currently standing right next to one of the last Dragons in the world. That leaves him speechless for a minute, in which the conversation continues without a regard to him and his awe.

"And to whom do I have the pleasure of meeting here?" Weiss asks scathingly, eyes narrowed at the Dragoness.

Though the blonde girl very blatantly ignores her, the blonde Monkey is quick to snatch up the dropped ball by filling the treacherous quiet with pointless small talk. "It's like fate brought the school Directors together on the first day," he says grandly, gesturing to himself, Yang, Ren, and Adam in turn. "Dragon of the East, Phoenix of the South, Tiger of the West, and Tortoise of the North. The four different directions of faunus converging on the same spot."

"Deep," Adam rumbles. "So what do you want?"

"Oh, we just felt like you might want this little something-something," replies the Dragoness cheerfully, digging something out from between her breasts. "We found it sitting on the street and decided to return it to you."

Weiss gasps. "That's my—"

"Whoa little birdie, hold on there," the Dragoness chuckles condescendingly as she holds a small rectangular object out of Weiss' reach. For all Jaune can tell, it looks like a small, highly decorated wooden box, and yes, it could have easily nestled within the girl's cleavage. Ahem. "I'd like to return it to a trustworthy keeper."

"I am its owner," Weiss snaps furiously.

There's no mistaking it this time—the Dragoness' eyes flare a wicked red. "Don't you dare say that," she snarls.

"I'll say it for as long as it's true," declares the ice princess. The feathers on the collar of her jacket rise upwards as if in a display of aggression. Jaune has the feeling that their section of the courtyard is going to frost over again—until he sees the air wavering around the Dragoness as golden wisps of flame float off her hair.

Before things can get too serious, though, the Monkey deftly snatches up the box from the Dragon's hand and dances over to Adam. "There we go," he says lightly as he deposits the ornate box into the masked Ox's hands. "Safe within the hands of the Tortoise. Miss Schnee, you get your stolen treasure back. Yang, remember that you represent your school. Calm your tits down."

The Dragoness inhales deeply, seemingly sucking in all the flames that flicker across her body. She closes her eyes and punches her fists together to extinguish the last of the fire, and when she looks at them all again with a cheeky grin on her face, her irises are once again a warm blue. "My tits are all good to go." She very obviously winks at Blake.

Blake is once again staring at a bird in the other direction.

"Thieves, all of you," Weiss growls. "Let's go, Taurus. Forget maximum security—I want a step above that. Nobody even sees the box." She glares at Yang specifically.

Yang only winks in response, and guffaws loudly as Weiss huffs and stomps away. "That was a thing," she declares, turning to face Jaune. With a small amount of panic, he only just realizes Blake quietly following Weiss towards the school building, leaving him alone with two blondes who could easily pick him and his lies apart in seconds.

{Ruby is friends with these people? How much can I trust her as a friend if she could just as easily turn around and pass information onto them? Most importantly—}

"Wasn't Ruby with you?" he blurts.

"My little sis?" Yang asks. She turns to the Monkey. "Oh my Light, Sun, is this the guy she was blabbering about?"

The Monkey closes one eye, does half a cartwheel to suspend himself upside down on one hand, and squints at him. "Maybe?"

"Uh, hi. Jaune Arc. I met Ruby… on the ship." {Flat on the floor after upchucking my lunch. Hopefully she didn't tell you that.}

Yang tilts her head and squints at him. "Does he look like a Vomit Boy?"

"Only one way to tell," Sun smirks, flipping to his feet. He doesn't slow down even upon popping Jaune's personal bubble, and he blocks Jaune's reactive retreat by gripping the back of his head with one hand. The Monkey grins mischievously and winks as Jaune struggles weakly, knowing but not quite believing what the other boy's about to—

Their lips crash together awkwardly. It's not even really a kiss because Sun sticks his tongue down Jaune's throat soon afterwards, causing Jaune to use a strength he didn't know he had to wrangle himself free of his attacker's grasp. "What are you doing?" he splutters, losing his balance and landing on his butt.

Sun smacks his lips and appears to be tasting his own tongue before hazarding a guess. "Bacon-cheese omelet sandwich?"

"Uh—"

"Aw you're so adorkable!" Yang sweeps him off the ground in a full-body, bone-crushing hug that lasts much longer than necessary; Jaune barely avoids losing consciousness by the time she releases him. "So what are you? You've got to be one of the Twelve, otherwise Ice Princess wouldn't have even bothered murdering your public image in person. Sun says not Monkey, so… rebellious meat-eating Rabbit? Cannibal Pig? Either way, anybody who eats Rooster fetuses is good in my book." The color of her irises progressively gains tints of lilac purple before abruptly fading back to neutral blue. "Wait, this is my little sis we're talking about. You better be a well-behaved little bunny, you hear?"

Jaune glances back and forth between Sun and Yang. Despite Yang's chattering, both seem to be expecting an answer. {Don't hesitate,} Blake's voice whispers in his head, while at the same time he bemoans, {Man oh man, I should have thought something up—}

"Possum," he blurts.

Silence.

{Mental facewall. Thud, thud, thud. Too late to turn back now though.} "I'm... I'm a Possum," he states firmly while internally wincing.

"Huh," says Sun slowly. He doesn't look entirely convinced. "Never had a Possum here before."

"They're not exactly a fighting species, that's for sure," agrees Yang, though she's got that warm glint of bluish purple in her eyes. "A nonconformist Possum here at Zodiac! This is perfect!" She hugs Jaune again, who's prepared this time and takes a huge breath before her substantial chest crushes his. "I can't wait to see how you manage to survive Initiation tomorrow!"

He freezes. {Initiation.} The bottle of Dust that Miltia had given him earlier weighs heavily in his pocket. "Hey… about that…"

"Don't worry about it; only a few weaklings are horribly mangled and disfigured for life every year. I'm sure you'll do fine with your. Um." She peers at him closely. "How do Possums fight?"

He's being completely honest when he answers, "That's why I'm here. To find out."

He catches a glimpse of Sun looking very doubtful before Yang playfully punches him in the shoulder—though it's probably meant to be playful from a Dragoness' point of view, because Jaune is literally knocked back a good distance before he manages to back-somersault and backflip twice into a crouching position, ready to dodge again at a moment's notice.

Yang laughs in delight. "See! That right there, that was pretty good."

Sun folds his arms and raises an eyebrow. "For a five-year old Monkey, sure."

"Aw, shut up." When Yang punches him, the impact doesn't even seem to faze the Monkey. "He's a cute and super ambitious twenty-some Possum, remember?" She hooks her arm into Sun's, pecks him on the cheek, and begins to draw him towards the school. "Toodles, Jaune. Hope you find what you're looking for."

A green-eyed girl with straight shoulder-length orange hair and freckles greets him at the main entrance to the school building. "Saaalutations! Welcome to Zodiac Academy! I am here to help you!"

"Uh, hi," Jaune says. "I, uh, definitely need help."

"Then it is good that I am finally able to meet you, because I am here to help!" The way the girl speaks is very formal and stilted, but she shares the same bright-eyed enthusiasm with Nora that makes her a little friendlier and relatable. She presents to him a metal cylinder about four inches tall, saying, "I bring you gifts of great tidings."

Jaune takes it hesitantly. "Thanks… What is this?"

"This is your official school guide!" the girl chirps. "It is called a Scroll. It is very helpful. It was meant for you, Jaune."

"Uh…" He takes a step back defensively. "How did you… know my—?"

The girl's eyes twinkle. "Oh yes. I forgot that it is also customary for people to respond with their own names in order to become friends. My name is Penny!"

"That wasn't exactly what I was asking for, but it's nice to meet you, Penny." He holds out his hand.

Penny's entire face lights up with happiness, though she doesn't seem to know what to do with his offered hand.

"Jaune? Are you talking to someone?"

Jaune jumps a little in surprise as Pyrrha steps up next to him. "Oh, hey! Pyrrha, this is—" He does a double take at the blinking outline that determines where Penny used to be. He glances around in confusion; there is no orange head of hair in sight. "Uh… I swear there was this girl here a second ago…"

Pyrrha gives him a skeptical side-eye. "I'm sorry for interrupting your… conversation. While passing earlier, I noticed how your body language showed defensive distrust, so I decided to lend my assistance." She glances around as well. "Was it that girl in black again?"

"Blake? No, she's a… a friend."

"A friend?" Pyrrha looks quite surprised. "I'll be blunt, Jaune, and say that I don't trust her. She hides many secrets."

"Uhhh reeeally… but don't we all have secrets to hide?" Jaune questions honestly.

"I suppose. But I'd like to think that my friends are people who are open and honest with me when it counts."

He does not flinch. "So… uh… you consider me a friend then?"

Pyrrha half-smiles. "Nora senses the potential for loyalty within you. I sense the potential for honor." She offers her arm to him. "Come, Jaune; would you like to escort me to the auditorium?"

He does not blush like a schoolgirl. Okay, maybe he does a little. Just a little. He also rubs the back of his neck ruefully. "I would… if I wasn't completely lost myself. I was hoping that Penny… uh, never mind."

"Have you not consulted your scroll?"

Oh. The metal cylinder that Penny gave him. Closer inspection reveals a yellow diamond-shaped button in its center which, upon depression, verifies his fingerprint first before splitting the cylinder vertically into two parallel handgrips. As he pulls them apart, a holographic screen flickers to life in the space between.

He remembers his dad carrying one of these around, though he'd never seen the holographic device in its collapsed state before. And back then, as far as Jaune knew, only his dad possessed such a device. He looks up at Pyrrha in wonder. "Do you have one?"

"Not yet, but everybody in the school should receive one upon checking into the auditorium. I'm actually surprised that you've received yours already despite having not checked in. However, I noticed your encounter with all four Heads of Houses earlier." She flashes him a winning smile. "I must applaud your ambition in placing your mark on the Academy already, Jaune of…" She frowns. "What are you?"

{Facewall. Why. Why?}

"Possum," he says miserably.

"Ah." Her face shows nothing but the slightest amount of surprise. "Jaune of Possum?"

Jaune avoids her eyes by searching his scroll for a school directory. "Arc," he mumbles.

"Excuse me?"

"My last name. Jaune Arc. Of…" Well, whatever faunus species is listed on his transcript is probably going to be revealed at some point, so no sense in maintaining this tiny little lie when Pyrrha seems to put so much faith in honesty. "You know what? I lied. I… I'm not from Possum." {Eye contact. Look her in the eyes. The best lies have a little grain of truth in them. Present your new truth to her.} "Whatever I was doesn't matter. I'm here at Zodiac to change that."

Pyrrha almost appears to be searching for something in his eyes. For a long moment, she says nothing; finally, she nods slowly. "Fair enough, Jaune Arc." She takes his hand and cups it in both of hers. "Thank you for telling me the truth."

What he just said is actually very true; but where Pyrrha's coming from, she's seeing it from a different angle. Does that make it a lie?

And if she does finally discover who he truly is far in the future, will she say that they're still both friends?